Passage 1

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In plain words

Embodiments of Prema!

God is without a second, beyond all measure. No measure is needed to describe Him. What is present everywhere is the one Lord of all, and He alone. Comparison happens only when there is a second thing. There is no second thing at all. Ekam eva advitīyaṃ Brahma. To make this divine principle known, He willed within Himself, ‘Eko'haṃ bahu syām.’ God Himself, by His own will, came as everything in His own form. All religions too have accepted this truth. In the Bible too it says, God created man in His own image. From this very oneness, what we call manyness came forth. To man alone God gave the strength and capacity to bring nature under his control. As this knowledge went on blossoming in man, the animal in him waned, and civility and culture too went on growing.

God is in human form. Daivaṃ mānuṣa rūpeṇa. So we must not think that man is only one who has grown through the natural senses, through the life breaths and through culture. God is in human form … their feelings too may differ. But Bhāratīya culture is one that shines as eternal Satya, without any kind of change. Whatever Satya there is that does not change with time, does not perish in the dissolution and does not wane with creation, Bhāratīya culture is the very form given to that Satya. What flows as the hidden stream within this culture is Sanātana Dharma.

Bhāratīya culture has shown Bhakti to be its chief thing and its standard. Bhakti cannot be won merely through acts such as going to temples, bowing down and making pilgrimages. All these are only some of the acts that belong to Bhakti. But there is one power that is the basis of all, nourishes all, spreads through all and gives rise to all. That itself is perfect Prema. This Prema is bound to no cause whatever. Just as a river feels a natural pull to reach the ocean, just as a creeper strives of its own accord to twine round a tree, so Prema is something that sets out on its journey to reach God, and has nothing to do with worldly desires.